Drone warfare is updating in real time – and cheap technology is outsmarting expensive missiles systems
An unlikely household technology has become critical to the war in Ukraine, weaponised by both sides in Kyiv’s bloody battle for survival.
Fibre optic cables – usually used to deliver broadband to UK homes – have become a key component of warfare in the last year, being attached to drones to protect their communications and keep them functional.
First person view (FPV) drones are of some the most important weapons on the battlefields of Ukraine, used along with drones for gathering intelligence and to launch attacks by both Russian and Ukrainian troops.
But they have a key vulnerability: the link between the drone operator and the device itself.
Drones traditionally use radio signals to send information between the two, transmitting instruction from the pilot to the device, and information back from the drone to the pilot.
But these communications have been subjected to “jamming”, where an enemy system deliberately disrupts the signals governing the drone to render them useless.
About a year ago, Russia came up with a remarkably simple new ploy; using fibre optic cable for communications instead – similar to using a trailing landline to relay information, rather than a mobile phone.
Fibre optic drones vulnerable but cheap
“Western companies have been trying to make ever more complex drone technology, but the Russians about a year ago started using reels of fibre optic,” said Karl Eze, the CEO of Point Zenith, a leading drone firm which has contracts with the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
“Fibre optic drones replace radio transmitters, and send laser light down the cable to transmit digital information. The drones carry spools of fibre which you can’t rewind after using them.”
The fibre optic cables aren’t a silver bullet for drone warfare; the wire makes less maneuverable than typical drones, and the cables, which can stretch from 10km to 40km, are vulnerable to being cut or damaged.
They also require getting the resource for large amounts of fibre optic cable to the frontline, however, they can’t be jammed, while their thinness makes them difficult to spot, and the sheer volume of them difficult to tackle.
They are – crucially – cheap. “You can buy these kits from Chinese companies online for £900 pounds for a 10km spool, and a few hundred for the laser technology,” Mr Eze said.
Fibre optic devices aren’t useful in every situation, and he said they won’t replace other, cable-free drones. But they are an increasingly crucial part of the drone arsenal, used to attack whatever is jamming the other drones, to free them up to be used again.
Nick Reynolds, land warfare researcher at think tank Rusi said that like other small drones, they can sometimes pass through air defense systems undetected.
“You can shoot them down, the same as a normal drone, but they’re very small, so that creates a problem. Most air defence systems are optimised for larger targets. Plus, there is often a very high number,” he said.
“As with other drones, you can target the launch teams, but it isn’t really a solution.”
However, many are likely to break without intervention, Mr Reynolds said.
“The cable does have some weight to it, and there can be issues with it tangling, or risks around the spools. Operators would need to be a little more careful with route planning,” he said.
“They are made cheaply, so a proportion will fail. They seem to be fairly good at flying low, and don’t seem to need more elevation to avoid tangling. But we don’t have good idea of their reliability yet.”
Photographs of fibre optic cables may be misleading
The cables – which are just 0.3mm thick – are now draped across the battlefields of Ukraine, although photographs claiming to show them tangled in trees have been flagged as dubious by experts, because their thinness means they are unlikely to be visible from afar.
Another photograph shared on Russian military blog pages claimed to show tangled cables around a car wheel, but it is not confirmed to be fibre optic drone wiring, with some commentators suggesting it was vehicle incapacitating steel fibres.
Drones fiber-optics on the battlefields of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/bUWdkMNUjE
— Yigal Levin (@YigalLevin) March 19, 2025
Drone warfare changing in real time
Drone adaption is traditionally a “predator prey” relationship, in which one side changes its signals to avoid jamming and enjoys a “fleeting advantage” before its opponent adapts and manages to jam it again, Mr Eze said.
Fibre optic drones marked a “real step change”, using technology which was simple and readily accessible.
“It’s an example of high tech vs the right tech, and human ingenuity finding simple ways round a complex problem,” Mr Eze said.
Much of the development comes from hobbyists who race drones, or commercial companies, rather than military-focused defence industries.
Interceptor drones which are “cheap, disposable drones used to crash into larger, more advanced UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]” started out with people gaffa taping sticks to drones and propelling them into larger devices, and now use shotguns and explosive charges.
Today, they are an essential part of intelligence gathering and attacks, with a key Russian airbase set alight by Ukrainian drones just this week.
Traditionally, this evolution has been spearheaded by Ukraine, which has a more innovative, entrepreunial approach, before being copied by Russia which can then scale up the technology through its large industrial base.
Earlier this month, Ukraine launched one of its largest ever drone attacks killing three people in Russia while flights were restricted in and out of three airports around Moscow.
Ukraine also struck a major Russian strategic bomber airfield some 435 miles from the front line.
“The pressure of the war is forcing evolution to happen faster,” he said.
Last year, Nato officials warned that low-cost and accessible drones pose “one of the most important threats” to Nato defences, after The i Paper was granted access to a key Nato base on the banks of the Black Sea in Romania.
Reynolds said that soldiers on the ground were “trying different things with different components and seeing what works”.
“The way both militaries are operating allows them to do that at scale and very rapidly. Ukrainians are working with different units and volunteers, while Russia is a bit more centralised,” he said.
Ukraine has accused Russia of attacking its own gas pipeline to fuel a disinformation campaign against Kyiv, just days after the two sides reportedly agreed to stop targeting energy infrastructure as part of a 30-day ceasefire. Talks around this potential ceasefire have been delicate, not least given the US briefly implemented an intelligence blackout on Ukraine.